60's Fender pickup question...

[whsteve]

I recently purchased an 83 Fullerton P-Bass. I was told it had the original pickups in it, but after popping the hood I found out that it did not. Not a huge deal to me (the bass is an amazing playing bass, seriously... that good), and it's not super minty.

Many a moon ago I had a 66' P-bass that was my gigging bass. I foolishly sold it for something years ago. But being the smart young man that I was at the time, I pulled out the pickups and installed some active ones

I'm hoping that my earlier (boneheaded) decision may payoff now. I still have (what I believe to be) the original 66' pickups. Would any of the local Fender experts here mind taking a peek at the pics and chime in?

Both pickups measure exactly 5.48. Unfortunately only one of the black cloth wired leads remains. I also have the grounding plate for them (not pictured). Assuming they are what I believe them to be, I was hoping to wire these up and drop them in the Fullerton. I was a little stumped on the "1R" sticker on the pickup. Any info would be greatly appreciated!!

[whsteve]

additional pics....

[whsteve]

last pics...

[Daveomd]

Nope. The pups in my '66 have grey bobbins with the dates written in pencil. Those look way too new.

[whsteve]

Thanks for the quick reply.... bummer. Oh well. I have a set of 78's that I guess I could give a go. Thanks!

[Daveomd]

Just use whichever ones SOUND the best. They're not original anyway, so who cares what they are!

[narud]

those are duncans. probably spb1's and probably hotter than than the 78's. what pickups did the 83 come with?

[Craig_S]

The winding wire is a different color than my SPB-1 pickups.

[walterw]

yeah, that "1R" sticker indicates duncan.

[narud]

Originally Posted by Craig_S

The winding wire is a different color than my SPB-1 pickups.

what does the winding look like on your pickup? an spb1 is plain enamel and that pickup looks right. the op mentioned the 66 he had that pickup in was something he owned "many moon" ago. maybe slight variation from then to now?

[Craig_S]

The windings on mine are bright copper colored. It's probably just a difference in the enamel color.

[narud]

Originally Posted by Craig_S

The windings on mine are bright copper colored. It's probably just a difference in the enamel color.

hmm? bright copper like this?


if its that bright it sounds like heavy formvar and the description on duncans site describes the spb1 as being plain enamel

[whsteve]

Thanks for the added replies. The windings actually look a little more purple than they do in the pics. Maybe it is just the enamel. Not sure. I can say with some certainty that those p/u's are at least from 92' or prior.

[SGD Lutherie]

The winding color is just a die in the insulating coating, but plain enamel is generally a dark purple almost black.

here's a '72 Mustang pickup:



Wire comes in all kinds of colors though. It doesn't always tell you what kind of insulation it is. These are all SPN (poly). You can get green, red, and even black. The light colored spools are clear coating.



Here's the bottom of a '74 P bass bobbin. You can see the date stamp. The Mustang pickup also has a date stamp.



The Duncan pickups are going to be as close to the real thing as you can get.

[johnk_10]

judging by the DCR, those look like seymour's spb-1's to me. IMO, they are the best sounding pickup for a vintage p bass tone bar none, and i've tried all of them (fender reissues, lollars, fralins, nordstrands etc). i've directly compared the spb-1 to the pickups in my original '62 p bass and couldn't distinguish them from the real thing. IMO, that particular pickup replicates the originals perfectly, when today so many boutique pickup makers advertise their's as just like a vintage, only better. 'only better' means that they've disturbed the vintage vibe, or something is different, and IMO, Seymour's attention to detail surpasses all of the others. not saying that other pickups are not as good, but i haven't heard any other that sounds exactly like the real thing besides that one.

just my opinion...............

[Craig_S]

Originally Posted by narud

if its that bright it sounds like heavy formvar and the description on duncans site describes the spb1 as being plain enamel

I don't want to take mine out to see, for sure, whether the wire is the same color. I remember it being bright, not dark. I don't trust my memory, now...

EDIT: I just looked at a SPB-2 pair I have and they are bright copper, wrapped with black tape. Both models use the same wire. There is just more wire on the SPB-2.

The SPB-1 is my favorite Precision bass pickup.

[ac3320]

Originally Posted by johnk_10

judging by the DCR, those look like seymour's spb-1's to me. IMO, they are the best sounding pickup for a vintage p bass tone bar none, and i've tried all of them (fender reissues, lollars, fralins, nordstrands etc). i've directly compared the spb-1 to the pickups in my original '62 p bass and couldn't distinguish them from the real thing. IMO, that particular pickup replicates the originals perfectly, when today so many boutique pickup makers advertise their's as just like a vintage, only better. 'only better' means that they've disturbed the vintage vibe, or something is different, and IMO, Seymour's attention to detail surpasses all of the others. not saying that other pickups are not as good, but i haven't heard any other that sounds exactly like the real thing besides that one.

just my opinion...............

SO you really think the SPB-1 are the most vintage precision PUP out there? I always assumed the boutique vintage ones who didn't say "vintage but better" were going to be the best :/

[johnk_10]

Originally Posted by ac3320

SO you really think the SPB-1 are the most vintage precision PUP out there? I always assumed the boutique vintage ones who didn't say "vintage but better" were going to be the best :/

yep, i think they are definitely the best. to me, 'scatter wound' and 'hand wound' is mostly hype for sales. for example, IME, fralins are a bit too stiff/tight sounding, and no other boutique pickup that i've tried sounds like the original, like the spb-1 does. and the same goes for the sjb-1's too.
i've always considered the originals to be the 'ford pickup truck' of pickups, not the ferrari or porsche, and the ford pickup always gets the job done properly, just as the original pre-cbs fenders did. the early, non bevel topped fender USA reissues used to be my second choice, but they have changed them since then, and i don't care for any of the csutom shop ones, if true vintage tone is what you're after.

i 've had alot of talkbass members email me about what pickup would make their jazz or p bass sound like an original and i've always recommended the duncans. after they bought them and installed them, they were amazed how great they are and that they overlooked them, compared to their lollars, fralins, and nordstrands.

i'm not putting down the others at all, and if you like them, that's great, i just don't think any other pickup sounds like a vintage original besides the duncan. (and that includes seymour's antiquity series).

[ac3320]

Originally Posted by johnk_10

yep, i think they are definitely the best. to me, 'scatter wound' and 'hand wound' is mostly hype for sales. for example, IME, fralins are a bit too stiff/tight sounding, and no other boutique pickup that i've tried sounds like the original, like the spb-1 does. and the same goes for the sjb-1's too.
i've always considered the originals to be the 'ford pickup truck' of pickups, not the ferrari or porsche, and the ford pickup always gets the job done properly, just as the original pre-cbs fenders did. the early, non bevel topped fender USA reissues used to be my second choice, but they have changed them since then, and i don't care for any of the csutom shop ones, if true vintage tone is what you're after.

i 've had alot of talkbass members email me about what pickup would make their jazz or p bass sound like an original and i've always recommended the duncans. after they bought them and installed them, they were amazed how great they are and that they overlooked them, compared to their lollars, fralins, and nordstrands.

i'm not putting down the others at all, and if you like them, that's great, i just don't think any other pickup sounds like a vintage original besides the duncan. (and that includes seymour's antiquity series).

Sir, thank you for your opinion and advice here and per PM about these pickups! it must go against the "tone snob" in me . i need to check those out i guess

[narud]

Originally Posted by johnk_10

yep, i think they are definitely the best. to me, 'scatter wound' and 'hand wound' is mostly hype for sales. for example, IME, fralins are a bit too stiff/tight sounding, and no other boutique pickup that i've tried sounds like the original, like the spb-1 does. and the same goes for the sjb-1's too.
i've always considered the originals to be the 'ford pickup truck' of pickups, not the ferrari or porsche, and the ford pickup always gets the job done properly, just as the original pre-cbs fenders did. the early, non bevel topped fender USA reissues used to be my second choice, but they have changed them since then, and i don't care for any of the csutom shop ones, if true vintage tone is what you're after.

i 've had alot of talkbass members email me about what pickup would make their jazz or p bass sound like an original and i've always recommended the duncans. after they bought them and installed them, they were amazed how great they are and that they overlooked them, compared to their lollars, fralins, and nordstrands.

i'm not putting down the others at all, and if you like them, that's great, i just don't think any other pickup sounds like a vintage original besides the duncan. (and that includes seymour's antiquity series).

is the polarity the same on the sjb's as the antiquity's? right now i have an antiquity one in the neck position of my 62 jazz that is a great match with the original bridge pickup. fenders and nordstrand have the polarity switched though and i cant mix and match.

frequency response wise it does a great job in that bass. the original bridge pickup is 8.6k and the original neck was 5.3k (not the best match) ive been trying out different neck pickups for a while now and picked up an antiquity one that is 8.7k. im always open to trying different stuff though.